1. Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure relates to deep fat fryers for the food service industry. More particularly, this disclosure relates to deep fat fryers for the food service industry that are capable of filling and maintaining a volume of cooking oil in a cooking receptacle. Still more particularly, this disclosure relates to deep fat fryers that are capable of filling and maintaining a volume of cooking oil in a cooking receptacle where a temperature of used oil in the cooking receptacle that is detected each time a top-off operation is commenced is variable depending on one or more conditions.
2. Description of Related Art
Deep fryers are a necessity of the food service industry and particularly for the fast food service industry. For quick cooking of foods, the cooking oil must be filled in the cooking pot and be of a particular temperature at all times. During the cooking process much of the oil is absorbed by a food product, resulting in loss of oil volume. Furthermore, the rate of temperature rise is directly related to shortened oil life. Accordingly, there is a need to keep the volume of oil at optimal levels during the cooking process to minimize oil degradation caused by the heating process. Thus there is a need to keep the fryer full of oil at all times during the cooking process. Without an automatic system to maintain the oil at an optimal level and optimal temperature the operator could overlook the oil volume while cooking and reduce the effective life of the cooking oil.
The ambient environment includes conditions or variables such as temperature and pressure that can differ, for example, based upon geographic location. Taking into account these variables can lead to longer oil life by beginning an automatic system to maintain the oil at an optimal level at an earlier time based upon variables in the ambient environment reducing the rate of temperature rise. Conversely, taking into account these variables can lead to longer oil life by beginning an automatic system to maintain the oil at an optimal level at a later time based upon variables in the ambient environment prolonging the rate of temperature rise.
In current fryer operations in which systems are in place to add new oil into fryer pots, under certain conditions pots are being overfilled. This does not mean that the oil level overfills the side walls of the pot. It is just higher than the desired level. Overfilling results in too much oil being used in the frypot which contributes to increase oil usage and decreased oil life. Both cases exacerbate overhead cost to the store. Even though the amount of oil is minimal, it does affect oil quality.
Accordingly, there is a need for a deep fryer that fills and maintains the desired cooking oil volume and temperature for commercial deep fat fryers without operator intervention. In addition, there is a need for a deep fryer that fills and maintains the desired cooking oil volume and takes into account variables.